French influences add uniqueness to Celtic North’s debut album

Originally formed in 2002, Celtic North played its first-ever gig at a retirement home where a few residents didn’t exactly love their show – one calling it nothing but “noise” and another who suffered from Alzheimer’s frequently stealing the music sheets from a performer. “That was our initiation,” laughs Orléans’ Lois Siegel, who also lists photographer, film studies professor and band agent amongst many other occupations.

But a big positive came from the early shows for the group that now also includes Blackburn Hamlet’s Dan Perkins and Marie Deziel of Gatineau – they helped develop Celtic North’s unique style that features French tunes on top of traditional Irish and Scottish music. “People like the variety, and they especially like tunes they recognize,” Siegel explains, noting there were many French-speaking audience members at the retirement homes. “We try to make our audience happy. And if you play tunes people recognize, you can just see the faces light up. And if I play the spoons, the faces light up the same way.”

Celtic North gradually began to rise – first playing at Chapters for a free book from the discount pile, eventually earning better-paying gigs at private house parties, and then playing at the casino in Gatineau on weekends.

But the biggest show to date was unquestionably the 2007 New Year’s Eve gala at the Museum of Civilizations prior to the fireworks commemorating the 150th anniversary of Ottawa being named the capital of Canada. “We even had our own dressing rooms, so we were freaking out,” Siegel recalls. “They broadcast the music outside, so we were playing for 25,000 people.”

Some of the notoriety obtained from the big show helped convince Celtic North to put together its first album, which is self-titled. The recording was done in Perkins’ living room where they assembled “relatively professional gear” before his son-in-law, a jazz musician, completed the mastering in Toronto. “We did it as a sort of ‘home project,’” Perkins notes, adding that helped keep costs down.

Siegel, along with her “high-tech whiz” husband, took care of the CD cover design elements and arranged for printing and shipping from the UPS store in Orléans.

With several orders already coming in from the U.S., Siegel jokes that, “Hey, maybe we’ll break even.”

Future recordings – which they hope won’t be too far down the road – might feature more mixing so additional instruments the musicians play can be included on a single track such as the fiddle, spoons, bodhran, guitar, mandolin, Irish bouzouki and accordion, Perkins notes. “We’re very happy with the product,” he adds. “It was a lot of fun.”